FINAL EXAM REVIEW December 2018, questions and answers PDF

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She gives these exact questions on the final exam. She will ask some, not all questions. ...

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1. Define cognitive science a. Interdisciplinary study of the mind i. Collaborative science ii. Common quest to understand the mind → uses methods and findings from a variety of disciplines (cognitive psychology, computer science, neuroscience, linguistics, anthropology, philosophy, etc.) 2. Explain the challenge of cognitive science a. You cannot directly study the mind, but you can study the input (stimulus) and output (behaviour) i. Indirect methods b. We are unable to determine what happens in the middle (thinking, representation) 3. List the FOUR themes, identify and generate examples of each theme a. THE BLACK BOX: The Challenge of Cognitive Psychology i. We must observe the input (stimuli) and output (behaviour) in order to generate a hypothesis, and then devise and test an experiment that allows us to determine what’s inside ii. (ex. In class activity with the black box experiment) iii. The Allegory of the Interstellar Dingus 1. Behaviour → The Allegory of the Interstellar Dingus (story) ● Alien-like boxes enters earth (mysterious devices) ○ Each a substance impregnable and opaque with sensors ● One sensor responds to light ● Machines are effective (aka nutcrackers) ● Not all machines work equally ○ Just like brain regions and humans b. How Breakdowns can Illuminate the Mind i. Breakdowns are able to give us clues on how the brain system works ii. Developmental stage iii. Brain damage iv. Disorders v. Experimental manipulation → Visual illusions c. How Time Can Illuminate the Mind i. 0 us how long it is till we see a response to a stimulus ii. Response times (counting experiment in class with addends) iii. Looking at a screen with dots test (counting how many dots) d. Cognitive Complexity and necessity of Bias i. Cognitive procedures require resources (time, memory, energy) in order to reduce cognitive complexity our brain uses heuristics, which lead to BIAS

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Biases are systematic errors that allow us to infer how the mind fails 1. Kanizsa illusion (triangle) 2. Systematic errors iii. Heuristics - lead to systematic errors (bias) 4. Explain the relationship between computational complexity and bias a. Computational complexity: i. Perceptual system uses heuristics to resolve ambiguity (doubtful/uncertainty of meaning) b. Bias i. General pattern or tendency to think in a certain way → related?: allows us to process perceptual information quickly. 5. List logic and benefits of using RT a. Define: Time from the onset of a stimulus until a response is made b. Benefit: Indirect measure of cognitive processes i. Observable and quantitative variable 6. List principles of good design and identify issues in poor designs a. Principles of a GOOD DESIGN: (dont mix up with good user interface) i. Provide a good conceptual model 1. Allows for prediction of the effect of actions ii. Making things visible 1. How to operate the device (set of possible actions) 2. Mapping between controls and actions 3. Crucial distinctions 4. Effect of the operation (i.e., feedback) b. Issues in poor designs:** i. No visible structure ii. Mappings were arbitrary iii. Controls have multiple functions iv. Not good feedback v. Not understandable c. Good user interface

i. 7. List the properties of a good user interface a. Recognition i. Is what is being represented obviously to the user? b. Modularity i. Are the steps to complete a task obvious to the user? c. Consistency i. Can the user apply the same schema across actions? 8. Generate good designs based on user-focused design principles.**

Salt and pepper shaker - Make it clear - Label it - RECOGNITION 9. Define and generate affordances a. Affordances i. Affordance refers to the perceived and actual properties of the thing, primarily those fundamental properties that determine just how the thing could possibly be used 1. A chair affords (“is for”) support aka sitting 10. Describe, generate and identify examples of, and list pros and cons of satisficing and elimination a. Elimination i. Focuses on individual aspects (components) of choices ii. Select some aspect and eliminate all alternatives that fail to meet a criterion on that aspect iii. Select a new aspect and eliminate all alternatives that fail to meet criterion iv. Lather, rinse, repeat until left with 1 choice v. EXAMPLE: BUYING A NEW CAR → Using the elimination by aspects model you would first identify the attribute which is most important to you: safety. The second most important attribute in a vehicle to you is gas mileage. The next attribute is price, then style, etc. Eventually, you will be left with one option and this is the one that is best. b. Satisficing i. Search through a set of alternatives and pick the best one, given that it is satisfactory ii. Satisficing is a decision-making strategy that aims for a satisfactory result, rather than the optimal solution. iii. It means choosing a satisfactory solution which is acceptable or reasonable over the optimal (best) solution because reaching the optimal solution would cost much more time, iv. EXAMPLE: BUYING GAS → , you dont want to drive all around town to find the optimal price. In this instance, a satisficing individual can reasonably stop at a gas station with a decent price rather than the best price, so he or she can just move on with their day rather than spending valuable time and thought solving his problem optimally. 11. Compare and contrast System 1 & System 2

a. System 1 (Automatic system) i. Fast, requires little to no effort, no sense of voluntary control ii. Heuristic question 1. E.g., happens without us intentionally meaning it to happen 2. E.g., making a disgusted face at something gross b. System 2 (controlled/effortful system) i. Slow, requires attention, subjective experience of agency ii. Target question 1. E.g., choice, concentration 2. E.g., focusing on someone’s voice in a crowded room 3. E.g., walking faster than usual a. The system we identify ourselves with 12. Identify examples of attribute substitution (dumb it down) a. Attribute Substitution: A phenomenon where you are asked hard questions, you unconsciously will substitute an easier system one question i. EXAMPLE: → How much would you contribute to save an endangered species (Target Question: System 2) → How much emotion do I feel when I think of dying dolphins (Heuristic Question: System 1) 13. Define and identify examples of availability, affect and representativeness heuristics a. Heuristics i. Availability 1. Substitute availability - the ease with which things come into mind - as an index for frequency (also for importance) 2. E.g., coming up with 12 times vs 3 times when I used by bicycle 12 times will seem like I use my bicycle less than 3 times E.g., media (gun murder) portrayed in the media ii. Affect 1. Substitute feeling - how do I feel about this? - for thinking - what do I think about this? a. E.g., buying a mac because you like it b. E.g., swing example (kid loves swings) making decision that swings are fun based on feelings iii. Representativeness 1. Substitute similarity as an index for probability (or category membership) assumptions a. E.g., seeing someone reading a newspaper and you automatically assume they are intelligent 14. Describe the effect of opt-in and opt-out choices**

15. Define, identify and generate examples of confirmation bias a. Strong tendency to seek out confirming evidence and rely on that evidence in drawing conclusions (unconsciously)

b. Multiple forms: i. More likely to seek evidence that confirms ones beliefs ii. Fail to use disconfirming evidence to adjust ones beliefs (aka belief perseverance) iii. Take confirming evidence at face value (belief bias); reinterpret disconfirming evidence to diminish its impact iv. Fail to consider rival hypothesis (because of prior constructions of thoughts already set in place) c. Belief perseverance: is the tendency to cling to one's initial belief even after receiving new information that contradicts 16. Identify positive and negative frames and predict likely effect of frames on behaviour

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b. c. Differences in framing can drastically affect people’s choices 17. Define affective forecasting and list/identify common errors (predicts how we FEEL)

a. Affective forecasting is the term for predicting how future situations will feel, most especially in regards to experiencing joy in anticipation of what's seen as a positive future event or state. i. EXAMPLE: GETTING A PROMOTION 1. When you’re promoted in a job you don’t really feel at all that different (life doesn’t change that much) b. People are not accurate in predicting how things (good or bad) will make them feel i. Underestimate our ability to adapt 1. When the event actually happens, it is not always that great ii. Focusing illusion: nothing is as important as you think it is when you are thinking about it iii. Miswanting: bad choices that arise from errors of affecting forecasting 1. EXAMPLE: DRUGS a. You think taking drugs is great, you feel better once you take them but as time goes on it becomes worse and worse 18. Explain and provide evidence for the distinction between the experiencing and remembering self (Kahneman TedTalk)

a. Remembering self i. Keeps score

ii. Storyteller b. Experiencing self i. Lives its life ii. Presence iii. Unconscious mode of thinking c. Confusion between experience and Memory i. Getting confused between them to determine our happiness ii. Ruining the “whole experience” iii. Difference between having the experience and remembering the experience d. Time has little impact on the story e. Two notions of happiness: i. How happy is the experience? ii. How happy is the remembering self? How satisfied? iii. They are distinct f. COLONOSCOPY EXAMPLE i. Which patient remembers more pain? ii. Patient B experienced more pain because it was longer iii. BUT patient A had a much worse memory than patient B iv. Critical: how it ends, suffering wasn't as bad as it ended 19. Explain how the following phenomena relate to our memory of painful experiences: peak-end rule and duration neglect (Kahneman TedTalk) a. The peak–end rule is a psychological heuristic in which people judge an experience largely based on how they felt at its most intense point and at its end, rather than based on the total sum or average of every moment of the experience. b. Duration neglect: duration had no effect on global ratings of pain 20. Define, identify and generate examples of: impact bias and synthesizing happiness and identify factors that foster the synthesis of happiness (Gilbert TedTalk)** a. Natural happiness: what we get what we wanted b. Synthetic happiness: what we dont get what we wanted i. You can be as equally as happy ii. Example: liking for owned object increases and liking for unowned object decreases 1. Anterograde amnesia: can’t make new memories a. They like the pictures they liked in the past but don’t remember that they own them 2. “I am so much better off anyway” 3. “I don't have a minute of regret” c. Irreversible vs. reversible condition experiment i. Not aware of synthetic happiness in irreversible condition

d. How is it fostered? Stucked with no choices e. Impact Bias: tendency to believe that things have more of an impact on us than they actually (less impact than we think) i. Once event happens, it does not always match your expectations ii. EXAMPLE: did not get the job 1. You predict you feel disappointed 2. But it is really not that bad at all

iii. 21. For each cognitive illusion we covered in the Invisible Gorilla, be to answer the standard five question a. Illusion of knowledge: believing you know more than you actually know i. How has illusion of knowledge affected your own thoughts and actions? ii. How has the illusion of knowledge affected the behaviour of people around you? iii. How have journalists, managers, advertisers, and/or politicians taken advantage of the illusion of knowledge for fun and profit? b. Illusion of memory: i. How has illusion of knowledge affected your own thoughts and actions? ii. How has the illusion of knowledge affected the behaviour of people around you? iii. How have journalists, managers, advertisers, and/or politicians taken advantage of the illusion of knowledge for fun and profit? c. Illusion of attention: i. How has illusion of knowledge affected your own thoughts and actions? ii. How has the illusion of knowledge affected the behaviour of people around you? iii. How have journalists, managers, advertisers, and/or politicians taken advantage of the illusion of knowledge for fun and profit? 1. Magicians 22. Define and identify examples of neurobabble and brain porn: a. Neurobabble: irrelevant information about the brain is added to conversations to induce the illusion of knowledge

b. Brain porn: the images that seduce us into thinking we know more about the brains then we do 23. Describe, identify and generate an example of the relation between familiarity and the illusion of knowledge** a. Example: Draw the penny example (first day of class) i. We mistake familiarity for understanding; false sense of knowledge b. The illusion of knowledge: the tendency to think we have a better understanding than we actually do. i. One aspect of this illusion is that we easily mistake surface understanding for deep understanding 24. List things you can do to avoid the illusion of knowledge a. Feedback b. Taking the outside view c. Testing yourself i. “Why? why? why?” 25. List ways to make a message more persuasive** a. Do not use complex language b. Make it memorable c. When quoting sources, choose a name that is easy to pronounce d. Use high-quality paper to contrast between characters and the background

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